Impact of the hemispheric asymmetry of Superthermal Electrons on the coupled Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere (M-I-T) system

The main objectives of this project are to quantify the impact of the hemispheric asymmetry of superthermal electrons (SEs) in the coupled Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere (M-I-T) system on airglow emission and thermal structure of the upper atmosphere. Our special focus is made on elucidating the causes and the consequences of the hemispherical asymmetries. The project addresses the following three specific science questions: (1) What is the role of the hemispheric asymmetry in the formation of SE fluxes in the M-I-T system?; (2) How much of the observed airglow can be attributed to the SE originating from the conjugate hemisphere and how M-I-T SE coupling impact on the overall airglow sources in both magnetically conjugate regions?; (3) To what degree do SE originating from the conjugate hemisphere play a role in the energetics of the ionosphere and plasmasphere and how much their energy can be lost in the magnetosphere and redistributed back to the IT system?. In order to address the science questions, we will perform the rigorous coupling of the two well-documented codes: IPE and STET. The Ionosphere-Plasmasphere-Electrodynamics (IPE) model is a time-dependent, three-dimensional, global model of the ionosphere and plasmasphere. Super Thermal Electron Transport (STET) model includes the full solution of the Boltzmann-Landau kinetic equation for SEs in the energy range of 1 eV to 50 KeV along the magnetic field line from the 90 km in the Northern hemisphere to the 90 km to magnetically conjugate region. In this presentation, we show that plasmaspheric transparency in the IPE model allows us to better describe the energetic coupling between the ionosphere and plasmasphere because the transparency impacts superthermal electrons coming from the conjugate hemisphere due to transport, pitch angle trapping, and heat flux into the topside ionosphere. Furthermore, we evaluate the impact of the new magnetic field configuration on magnetospheric transparency in the STET model, which is the key to accurately describing the hemispheric asymmetry of superthermal electrons in the coupled M-I-T system.